Nestled among the luxurious green of the Vihara Maha Devi Park is a
quiet corner, a brick path, a garden bench, small red flowers... Behold
a lady, draped in a beautiful sari, walking quietly among the well
manicured bushes. She touches a leaf here, bends down to pick a fallen
flower, stands in silence in front of the plaque at the entrance with a
fond smile on her face.

Memories

"She comes here regularly whenever she is in Sri Lanka", says H. B.
Aberatne, an employee of the park for seventeen years, who waits quietly
watching the lady.

"This is where Sir, died. I remember the morning very well. He was
stroking the head of the elephant we had in the park after his walk from
Barnes Place, when suddenly he fell on the ground and passed away. We
ran up to him but there was nothing we could do".

As long as the park is there, so
too the plaque which says “ Oliver Weerasinghe, Architect, Town
Planner and Diplomat, who died at this spot on 20th January,
1980.

"Sir", is Oliver Weerasinghe, the first city planner and architect of
the country, who died on January 20, 1980, at the Vihara Maha Devi Park.
A kinsman of the newspaper magnate, D. R. Wijewardene he was responsible
for planning and constructing the present Lake House building.

According to H. B. W. Abeynaike, in "Men and Memories", Oliver
Weerasinghe, is however, best known for planning and developing the new
town of Anuradhapura, advocating this as an essential step in preserving
our heritage.

An old boy of Royal College who was trained by the famous planner Sir
Patrick Abercombie at the University of Liverpool during the 1920s, he
was the third among the "Weerasinghe brothers" - the youngest brother of
Auditor General Lionel Weerasinghe, and Chief of the Fire Brigade, B. E.
Weerasinghe.

And the lady who pays regular visits to the Park to stand quietly by
the place where her husband passed away, to recall fondly the memories
of thirty-two-years of a happy, married life is Christobel Weerasinghe -
the daughter of Sir Henry Kotalawela. As I approach her with hesitant
steps, on a sunny, Wednesday morning at the Park, not wanting to break
into her solitude she turns towards me and gives me a radiant smile.

Seeing the loving sparkle in her eyes and feeling the warmth in her
smile, I realise that the adage, "behind every successful man there is a
woman", is surely true.

Marriage

At first not willing to talk about herself or her life with Oliver
Weerasinghe, she narrates her husbands achievements " There were
architects and city planners before him, in Sri Lanka, but he was the
first who was both an architect and a city planner.

From 1965 to 1971 he was Ceylon's Ambassador to the United States."
While her husband was a Director at the United Nations in New York from
1956 to 1965, she herself had been an alternate representative, and had
conducted a radio program, "Tales from the East" from WAMU-FM, the
American University station in Washington.

She had lectured to school groups and women's clubs about Sri Lanka,
and when paid a honorarium sent it to a charity. Even today she conducts
classes at the Methodist Church Day Care Centre for three to
five-year-old children, two mornings a week.

Finally, moving on to speak of her marriage, she says she had first
seen Oliver Weerasinghe when he was brought to a college production of
"The Bohemian Girl" by D. R. Wijewardene, in which she was performing.

He was fifteen years older than her, but they have got on very well
together so much so that her children say theirs was "One of the
happiest marriages" on earth. "None of what I have achieved could have
been possible if not for my husband. He helped me in everything I did.

He was wonderful as a husband, as a friend, as a companion". She
attributes the success of her marriage to sharing everything together.
"Every night before we went to bed he used to ask me how I had spent my
day and he used to share with me everything he had done that day." She
says he was a "basically quiet, reserved, strong person".

His most memorable words to her were, "Life is a struggle, but as we
reach out to people, our life will be enriched".

Plaque

Today, fifteen years after he succumbed to a heart attack while
stroking the head of the elephant resident at the Vihara Maha Devi Park,
Sumeda, a technical officer, says "We have allocated a worker to look
after this corner which will always be reserved for Sir (Oliver
Weerasinghe) because he was the first city planner and architect of our
country".

As long as the park is there, so too the plaque which says " Oliver
Weerasinghe, Architect, Town Planner and Diplomat, who died at this spot
on 20th January, 1980 - May he attain Nibbana".